Buster Posey Retires

[navamind]

100% agree. I was not implying in any way that Posey belongs in the same convo as Bench (or Fisk, as I consider the two of them the best ever by a mile…. Not counting Gibson, of course).

As for the importance of Posey vs the importance of Bench, that is hard to judge. Those Reds teams were stacked with HOFers, while the Giants only had a bunch of HOVGers.

Those Giants teams were bizarre. Aubrey Huff had a crappy 2009 but has one of the best seasons of his career in 2010 before retiring several years later. They also had a 32-year-old Andres Torres that was out of the league from 2006-2008 put up a 5+ WAR season.

The 2012 team got a 157 OPS+ from Melky Cabrera, who had a career 103 OPS+. They had Ryan Vogelsong, who was a mediocre major leaguer from 2000-06 and hadn't pitched in the majors from 2007-10 put up a 3.05 ERA in 369.1 IP in 2011-12. Sure enough, he ended up being a postseason hero with a 1.09 ERA in 24.2 IP.

 

[Pure Steel]

All you need to mention is Bench and Fisk as contemporaries. Those two are arguably the greatest 2 catchers in the history of the game.

And honestly, looking at the contemporary context is HUGE, imho. Posey had 1 contemporary to contend with (Molina). Much easier to stand out in that environment.

Don't forget Yogi Berra.....

Casey Stengel once explained the Yankees' success this way: "I never played a big game without my guy." He meant Berra. Yogi will live on with his quotes and quips, but above all he won, playing in 14 World Series and winning 10 of them. He finished in the top four of the MVP voting seven consecutive seasons, a testament to his durability, respect and, yes, good numbers at the plate. During those seven seasons he averaged .295/.364/.502 with 27 home runs and 108 RBIs -- and, despite being a notorious bad-ball hitter, just 24 strikeouts per season. -- Schoenfield

So much could be said about Yogi; he's one of the game's most iconic historical characters. But I'm a stats guy, and this stat always amazed me: Berra homered 358 times but struck out only 414; he and Joe DiMaggio are the only players in history with at least 300 homers and fewer than 500 K's. -- Cockcroft

The most fascinating thing about Yogi Berra is that there are very few highlights in which he is portrayed as the star. He's always the other guy-- he's the guy leaping into Don Larsen's arms, or the guy arguing with the ump when Jackie Robinson steals home, or the guy watching helplessly at the outfield fence as Bill Mazeroski's homer wins the World Series. But though Yogi was rarely the man of the moment, he was an amazing player. From 1949 to 1958, he hit 257 home runs and struck out 250 times. I thought only Joe Dimaggio was capable of numbers like that. -- Simon

 

[Montalban]

So, given that criteria, Posey should have no problem getting in.

I think he’ll get in; not sure about first ballot though. I think he should be. Probably the most important Giant since Barry Bonds

 

[Montalban]

Meh…

Umps often say strike/ball to the catcher right away. Also, most of those pitches were no-doubters.

Agreed

 

[Montalban]

Gonna miss Cueto...what an entertaining player

Me too.

 

[Montalban]

Who was that wearing no.22? I can't believe that Will Clark's jersey number hasn't been retired by the team.

Hal Lanier?

 

[Montalban]

I'm actually pretty bad with knowing jersey numbers except for a few (Mays 24, Bonds 25, Jerry Rice 80, Montana 16, Young 8, Lott 42, Roger Craig 33). I don't know what triggered me to remember that Clark wore 22 when I was watching that video. Being an '80s kid, Will was my first favorite baseball player. If you asked me what Posey's jersey number was, I couldn't tell you. I don't think I can correctly state any current Warriors jersey numbers except for Draymond no. 23. I'm not sure why I've noticed and remembered his, but not others.

I think Curry is number 30

 

[catman]

He is. And so is Posey is my point. And yes those other borderline guys are no more deserving than Posey.

How about guys like Gil Hodges and Tony Oliva?